The next time you’re juggling options — which friend to see, which house to buy, which career to pursue — try asking yourself this question: What would Xiang Yu do?
Xiang Yu was a Chinese general in the third century B.C. who took his troops across the Yangtze River into enemy territory and performed an experiment [...]

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As American warships moved toward Lebanon on Friday, Hezbollah accused the United States of threatening regional stability, and the country’s pro-Western prime minister took pains to distance himself from the decision.
American officials said Thursday that they were sending the destroyer Cole to the eastern Mediterranean, along with at least two other ships, in a “show [...]

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Yet for all Moscow’s recent gains, economic storm clouds loom on the horizon for the next Russian president. In the first place, Russian growth is slowing. The Economist Intelligence Unit projects real GDP growth will drop from 7.5 percent in 2007 to 4.3 percent in 2012. The country’s inflation rate, which jumped to 11.9 percent [...]

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This time, however, the beneficiaries of the oil-price explosion are driving the demand for gold. Research by the World Gold Council shows that Qatar, the gas-rich Gulf state, has been buying about one tonne of gold - worth more than $34million today - every month for at least the past year.
Russia, a large producer of [...]

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Israeli aircraft and troops attacked Palestinian positions in northern Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 45 Palestinians, 19 of them civilians, and wounding more than 100 in the deadliest day of fighting in more than a year.
The Israeli attacks, mostly from the air on a clear, bright day, were aimed at stopping rocket fire from [...]

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The former KGB officer has adopted an increasingly bullish stance against perceived western military advances in the final years of his presidency.
A whole host of objections have riled western diplomats in recent months, leading analysts to suggest Russia is rediscovering the assertiveness it advanced in the cold war.
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The warning from Pakistan’s naval chief of a new nuclear arms race in the offing after India’s recent test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile must raise anxieties for south Asian regional security.
The Indian test from a submarine essentially raises the security stakes in an already troubled region. A submarine-based capability of this kind allows India [...]

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